I
It was a restless night. Visions of Dark Iron Dwarves, fire and ash raced through my mind. I needed to get my head straight, to forget all this. In my mind there was only one place to do so. I boarded a gryphon and flew to Booty Bay. I bandaged up my wounds and headed down to The Salty Sailor Tavern.
News travels quickly around here. Upon entering the tavern, I was met with cheers and applause. A greasy looking Gnome tossed a bottle of Junglevine wine to me and invited me to sit down. After a few drinks I spoke of my adventures since leaving the jungle. He told me that things just haven’t been the same since the “heroes” left. I asked what he meant. “Yesh it’s just no fun around here any more. I hear they even left the Outlandsh behind! Yep, they’re all op narth now fighting the lishh! *hic!*”
I scratched my head. I had never heard of “The Outlands”. I asked my drunken friend how to get there. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. “Go through the Dark Portal in the Blasted Landsh, ya imbecile! And shay hi to Hemet Neshingwary while yer there!” He took one last swig of his Junglevine and stumbled out of the bar. I sat there for a while, curious about what he said.
The next morning I took a gryphon out of Booty Bay to the Blasted Lands. The landscape was scarlet red, with an ever-churning storm overhead. I rode my mechanostrider to the source of the chaos. Then I saw it. Standing tall in the middle of some abandoned tents I found exactly what that Gnome was talking about.
It was almost as if this magical doorway was calling to me. I slowly walked towards it and put my hand into the star-filled portal. Suddenly the stars sped and careened past me. I was frozen, stuck in a cosmic pathway, yet somehow I was moving at the speed of light through space and time itself! In an instant it was over. Still a bit hung over from the night before, I rubbed my eyes and held my aching head. When I regained balanced I looked around.
Then I saw it. Standing tall in the middle of some abandoned tents I found exactly what that Gnome was talking about.
Before me laid a strange jagged landscape; the likes of which I had never seen before. It was as if I was on some kind of floating rock. There were tall cliffs overlooking a seemingly endless space. Rocks and ravaged buildings moved up and down an invisible current, seemingly suspended in air.
Staring in amazement at Stormwind soldiers as they jumped through swirling portals in the wall, it was clear to me. This is no Azeroth.
